Scholastic Award Winner: The Rift

The Rift

Honorable Mention in Science Fiction and Fantasy

By Rocco, 9th Grade

Ah!

I yelled as I spiraled through that mysterious portal. Strange forces consumed me as I fell into the unknown. I screamed my throat out, trying to contact someone, but to no avail. I closed my eyes, embracing myself for the worst. When I opened them, I couldn’t see anything; when I closed them, it was the same! It was worse than the highest blindness.

I just couldn’t settle on what was going on or what had just happened. The only thing able to settle were the words of the mysterious wizard that still coursed through my mind.

“Beware of what lurks on the Otherside!”

I pictured a magnificent, ferocious beast, waiting patiently, ready to devour me whole. However, the time never came because my head interrupted my thoughts by hitting the hard wooden floor. My eyes slowly opened as the cool air slithered against my skin, giving me unearthly goosebumps. And unearthly it was, as a cool hand touched my body and magically brought me up to my feet. And guess who it was! It was the very wizard who pushed me into this dilemmatic portal.

“Why hello, my friend? Welcome.” He sneered at me.

I got up groggily, holding my head in pain. My eyes fixed upon the slim, withered figure of The Wizard, who wore a dark purple cloak with white stars, with his white beard down to his knees, almost acting like clothing itself.

“Where am I?! What am I doing here? What do you want of me?!”

“On the contrary, my friend! I want nothing of you, for I need you.”

My brain was processing all that had just happened. He needs me, for what?! Do I even trust him?

I looked back at the old sage, who was now sitting indolently on his black and blue throne. I took a moment to scan my surroundings, and I concluded I was at the top of a luminous tower. I spotted a large opening in the tower’s side and knew what I had to do. I couldn’t stay here. Not any longer.

I dashed for the hole, looking to jump over, but the Wizard himself blocked my path. I did a feint and attempted jumping back into the portal, but I never felt myself falling through time and space. The only thing I felt was my body slamming against the hard ground yet again.

“Argh!”

The Wizard held a hurt, yet circumspect, countenance as he stared disoriented at me.

“What were you thinking?! Don’t you know what will happen if you jump through there without a Stability Elixir?! You’ll be vanquished from existence! What is wrong with you?”

One word the Wizard said stuck with me. Unlike everything else he crowed on about in the last five minutes or whatever, the words “Stability Elixir” caught my attention.

The Wizard somehow read my mind and stated, “If you are wondering what a Stability Elixir is, you must help me first. Then I will explain.”

By the way the Wizard was acting and the current situation I was in, I had no choice but to agree to his pleas.
           
I sighed heavily and said, “Okay, I agree to help you, but only if you keep your side of the deal.”

The Wizard nodded faster than a hummingbird could flap its wings. His expression turned from dull and cold to joyful and hopeful.

“Wonderful! Now that you have agreed, I will explain everything to you.”

I shrugged my shoulders and gave him a nonchalant expression, making him shake his head in frustration and annoyance.

“First, I expect you are wondering what this place is?”

I nodded instantaneously, earning a few eye rolls from the old sage.

“Very well. This place I call the Rift is a mysterious place. Long ago, there was a breach caused by a famous wizard named Alatar. This breach caused a huge, incomprehensible collapse in space and time, as a huge cloud of smoke arose from the explosion. After the explosion, Alatar and his two acquaintances, Reed and Kay, were never seen again. I have been searching relentlessly for the past few years to find them, but all my attempts were futile. Furthermore, due to my countless attempts, I have now been trapped in the Rift. The person you claimed to have pushed you in was me, but not me.”

My eyebrows rose and my brain cells collided upon hearing the last sentence of his unimaginably verbose explanation. I was utterly dumbfounded.

“Listen. In simpler terms, the renowned hero Alatar is missing. I am trapped in this unknown dimension where space and time are nothing, and I need your help.” The Wizard’s tone sounded desperate.

“Okay. Just please slow down.” I panted. “Who are Reed and Kay, and what happened with Alatar to cause this breach?”

 “To begin with, Reed and Kay were Alatar’s students. Alatar and his students were ambushed whilst training. It was a long struggle, and eventually Alatar condensed all his power into one strike. He struck with a force so mighty that the breach occurred. The breach you seek to know is basically a void of nothingness in space and time. This phenomenon only occurs when a certain force of supernatural strength is used against one. Alatar is missing as the breach practically consumed him. Reed and Kay fled from the scene and are now stuck across a lagoon of toxic liquid that will kill them if they make contact.”

“So what do you need from me?” I queried.

“I need you to acquire all eight Timecharms that are scattered throughout the dimension. The timecharms are special artifacts that will unlock new areas with new quests and things to do. I know little about them, but I know the first one you must acquire.”

“So… what is it?”

“It is the Supreme Timecharm. This item will unlock a new area for you to explore. However, the only region you can explore for now is the area right outside the tower. A region known as the Wizard Tower.

Thoughts ravaged through my head. Supreme Timecharm? What in the world are these? (This is technically another world)

“Ummm, Okay… where do I go from here?”

The Wizard grabbed my arm and dragged me over to the balcony, where I saw a magnificent view of the area. The woods appeared gloomy with brown, dying trees corrupting the area, but there were little huts within the large trees with lamps that gave the Wizard Tower light.

It took me a moment to realize that the Wizard was right behind me. However, something was slightly off. He was staring at me with the same look as when I first awoke in the Rift. He then whispered something in my ear.

“Good luck, and… be careful on the way down.”

My eyes widened and my body tensed, and I felt my soul leave my body as I plummeted to the ground. The wizard had pushed me off the balcony, and I plunged toward my seemingly inevitable demise.

I prepared myself for the moment of impact, but the moment never came. I blacked out soon after…